The normal life of Nitpick Bittersweet

by Ryusun

Chapter 52 - Lightbulb and Twilight's meaningful moments! Tale 8

There comes a time in life when you ask to yourself: What is happiness? For some, happiness is being rich and able to buy whatever you wish inside the boundaries of wealth. For others, is having the power to move the masses and rule the world. Others just enjoy the simple act of waking each morning with a purpose in life.

As for me, I prefer the last. I’m not someone who seeks power, extreme wealth, or even a life of adventure. From time to time I enjoy the sporadic trip with the family, or going to a gaming convention and meet your old hero of the TV shows of youth. I also love playing videogames, and I recently started to replay Demon’s Dogma to catch up with the content released on the last two years.

In short, I enjoy the simple things in life. But there is something that I love more than anything else, and it’s walking right beside me. The moments I treasure the most…

…is when I’m with my girl.

It’s a beautiful Sunday and it couldn’t be a better time to be in the local plaza of Ponyville. It may be autumn, but it’s still sunny enough to hang-out with friends at the local breakfast diner. Today it will be a new adventure for me. My Bro and friend since middle school, Nitpick Bittersweet, will join us in a triple date with Twilight Sparkle. Lyra and Bon Bon probably are already in the local diner of the place, no doubt enjoying their lovey company in private.

Although the real objective of this date is to have fun with each other, I have another one as a secondary task. I need to talk with Twilight about her problem with Sentry.

“Choco, should we wait outside a little longer?” I asked.

“Probably not.” She said thoughtfully. “Bon Bon already sent me a message saying that we are already late to the meeting just before we arrived here.”

“She always exaggerates with the time appointments!”

“We are past twenty minutes from the original schedule. I wish we could arrive as early to our dates with them as I do to the school and my job!”

“Priorities, Choco!” I said with a playful tone.

A sudden text message arrived to my smartphone. It was the tune of The Ancient Scrolls and that gave me away from who it was.

-Nitpick: Hey, where are you? We are already in the diner ordering breakfast! What do you want to eat?

“Nitpick and the others are already there and they are gonna order breakfast.”

“Tell him we want the usual!”

I texted him quickly that we wanted hot-cakes and some black coffee. We rushed our pace to arrive to the local and four people were chatting with one another in a circular, family table. In one side, Lyra and Bon were as close as always, wearing matching bracelets with their favorite emblems in it. Next to Bon Bon, Bro and Twilight were sitting in a normal distance from one another.

“You are late, again!” Bon Bon said in playful but scolding voice.

“Sorry, sorry! I overslept a little!” I said.

“Again!”

“Honest!”

“Riiiight! You are such a slacker, Lightbulb!”

Dancer sat beside Lyra and that left me with the last seat besides Twilight. I could see she was a little uncomfortable in being surrounded with mostly strangers. Add to the fact that we were part of the group who yelled at Shimmer and her friends, and it was a good recipe for fright.

“Hi!” Twilight greeted us weakly.

“Hey, Twilight! How’re you doing?”

“Good, Dancer! Good… Hehe”

“Oh! What’s wrong, little sweet? You look nervous!”

“This is Twilight’s first time in here, Dancer!” My bro said.

“Oh! Isn’t she cute? Why don’t you tell us how did you spend your Saturday and break the ice with us!”

“Uh… I spent some time studying and making some experiments in my home. And before I went to sleep, I watched Paranormal Mystery Attack with my dog, Spike!”

“A dog that happens to be in her bag now.”

“Shh!” She quickly sealed his mouth with her hand. “Nitpick! Don’t speak! Spike didn’t come today!”

“Did Twilight just shut you up?” Dancer exclaimed with bits of laughter in every word. I couldn’t help but laugh as well.

“No! Bad Twilight!” He carefully removed her hand from his sight. “Look what have you done!”

That did the trick for her. She was in a better mood now.

“Hee hee hee! I didn’t know you were so easy to control, Beasty!”

“Very funny, Dancer!”

“Once we finish breakfast, were should we go?” Bon Bon asked.

“How about Carousel’s boutique? We can see the new seasonal clothes that Rarity has designed this year!” Lyra recommended.

I don’t need telepathic powers to feel the shared horror that Nitpick and I were feeling with that suggestion.

“Good idea!” Choco approved. “I want a new bag and a pair of shoes!”

“B-but you already bought some shoes last week!”

“Priorities, Bulby! It’s one of the advantages of having a job and not making your family worry about money!”

“What about Rarity?” Bro quickly came to my aid. “She must still be mad at us because the ruckus we did last time!”

“Yeah! Better go to another place instead!”

“Nonsense!” Bon Bon remarked. “Rarity isn’t a girl who keeps a grudge for too long! We should go there after we finish our breakfast!”

“What about we hunt for accessories in the local’s outfitter as well? Maybe we can find something nice there too!”

The girls agreed to Lyra’s suggestion and the decision was made. I was screaming internally and no doubt Nitpick was doing the same. I bet he was stressed of being Rarity’s model during past occasions and he didn’t want to go nearby it. In my case, I hate women’s extensive time in thinking what was the best choice; the red dress or the not so red dress? It was always the same dress design in the end!

At least I can say that breakfast time was pleasant. The abundance of honey and marmalade in our orders were outstanding. My coffee was warm enough to be considered drinkable and everyone ate while exchanging small chatter with one another. Since I have a little idea of Twilight’s current state of mind, she was doing great so far in keeping the conversation up.

Except that she never starts one. It wouldn’t be a problem in reality since some people love to hear others rather than speaking themselves, but I could see what my Bro was talking about. She had a kind of delay on her answers except when speaking with him. After watching enough for now, I hid myself behind the privacy of my newspaper. Today they released the last issue of Galaxy of Battlecraft and I need to read comfortably. And as I expected after reading it, it was another cliffhanger, typical. The time of food eventually ended and it was time to go to the outfitter.

The place wasn’t as big as the one in the Chocoratte Plaza and the ones in the city would dwarf this place without trouble. It doesn’t mean it didn’t have a decent variety. On the contrary, it had a good selection for both genders and some variety in unisex accessories. Mind you, Rarity’s selection was still queen in personality. At least, that’s what the girls say.

Two hours has passed since we arrived to the plaza and we were waiting for most of the girls outside the place in a bench. I was bored, Nitpick was dying and Twilight was reading a book.

“We are finished!” Lyra and the others were finally done with their supposed buying spree. And as expected, they didn’t buy anything. “I gave a call to Rarity just a minute ago and she said that she won’t open today so we decided to go to the arcades and have some fun instead!”

This is one of the many reasons why I like my friendship with Lyra.

“I stand by that decision one-hundred percent!” Nitpick cheered. “What are we waiting for? Let’s go!”

Lyra and my Bro rushed towards the arcades while the rest of us looked at them with little giggles. I wanted to run to the place too but I felt laziness in the end. The Arcade Center of Ponyville was really old-fashioned. Unlike the one in the Suburbs, this place had more family games than anything else. Your typical machines of games like Titanium Slug or other more aggressive genres existed but weren’t that numerous here.

Everyone went their separate ways to play their favorite machines. Dancer and Lyra went straight to the Slam It Up dancing machine while Bon Bon and Bro competed against each other in various games. Twilight and I were just there, standing in the middle of the local not knowing how to break the ice.

“What do you want to play?” Surprisingly, Twilight took the initiative.

“Nothing in particular. Let’s play whatever you want.”

“Ok… do you mind if we play that crane machine over there?”

“You want a stuffed toy, don’t you?”

She looked to the machine before giving her answer. “I want that stuffed doll for Spike.”

“Let’s go, then.”

“Really?”

“Come before someone wins the place.”

Good, old, money waster Crane Sthief! I remember when I used to spend money to try and catch a doll that was worth one-hundred bucks back in the day. But after making some basic math and coming to a realization that it would be better just to buy the little bear, I stopped trying my luck. I believe the machine was altered in some form because there were instances that I took the doll and the damn thing released it.

Twilight didn’t waste her time and inserted a dollar in it. The machine shimmered with its colorful bulbs and a little sound marked the activation of the levers. Meticulously moving the crane to the purple dog that was in the corner, she pushed the button and the craned slowly descended. She was going to grab it! The prize was in her possession! She was going to do it!

‘Clink’

The crane dropped the doll.

“Tsk, Cheeseburger!”

“Relax, Twilight! Try it again!”

The girl inserted another dollar in it and she tried again. She positioned the crane right above the doll. Activating the mechanism that made descend the claw, this time she definitely grabbed the prize.

‘Clink’

It happened again!

“I’ll try one more time!”

And another dollar was inserted and another game was wasted. We repeated the same pattern eight more times before finally the little girl stopped her lost cause. Or so I thought. From her bag, she withdrew a weird kind of laser pointer and she focused it on the crane and then a kind of three dimensional light appeared for a moment. Then she plugged it on her cellphone and started to make several tapings in it.

“AHA!” She exclaimed in victory. “Now you will be mine, little doll!”

She inserted another dollar in the machine. This time she didn’t waste any motion or made accelerated movements. She maneuvered the controls with such accuracy that the crane was now in an angular position, a few millimeters away from the center of the dog.

“Twilight, the claw isn’t above the center of the dog. It’s gonna fall again!”

But she didn't hear me, she was completly focused on her game. She hit the mechanism and the crane slowly descended to the dog’s head. The dog floated in the air and the crane made its clinking sound. But this time the dog didn’t fall to the mountain of dolls but instead it fell to the prize compartment, falling in the hands of Twilight Sparkle.

“YES!”

“Well done, Twilight!”

“It was thanks to the power of science and mathematical calculations!” She said that quite prideful.

“Uh, sure.”

The rumors were true about her genius.

“Want to play something else?”

She started to open herself a bit with me. Good.

“What about… mmm, what could be good? Pinball sounds good to you?”

“Yes!” She said excited.

“Then what are we waiting for? Let’s go!”

We walked to the other side of the local and saw our companions in war having fun. Dancer and Lyra were still competing in the dancing machine, their scores marking that they were tied. Bon Bon and Nitpick were… Oh god, this is painful. My Bro was being completely annihilated in the racing game. Of the seven times they have been playing, Bon Bon had won every single race.

“GOD DAMN YOU, BON BON!”

They were on the last lap. Nitpick was trying his best to maintain turbo but Bon Bon being an exceptional and gifted individual, managed to not only catch him but do something horrible to a male gamer.

“HAHAHAHA! HAVE YOU EVER TASTED THE ASPHALT? HAVE A SAMPLE WITH TEAR SALT!”

She rammed his car, making him crash to a wall and lose again spectacularly.

“NOOOOOOOO!” And he started to hit the wheel. "I'll destroy you this time!"

"Your feeble skills are no match for the power of the Owl Warrior!"

“Look at Nitpick and Bon Bon! They are having so much fun!” She said happy.

Your perception of the situation is really faulty.

“Uh… Let’s go and play, Twilight.”

I don’t want to see this massacre anymore.

“Right!”

The old but serviceable machines of pinball were tentatively calling me. I love old games like this. They are so simple and easy to take the ropes. I selected the blue one and Twilight used the one at my left. We inserted two quarters to start the game and we found ourselves launching the ball. The flipper buttons of my machine had seeing better days but now they have a little trick to activate it. You have to press them a little in the right side so the mechanism activates. The one in Twilight’s machine didn’t have that problem so it was in a way a fair game.

Balls were spinning, points were scored, and after a few minutes of struggle, Twilight’s ball met its demise.

“Cheeseburger!”

What a curious way to say a curse word.

“Try again, Twilight.”

And she did. She withdrew her pursue full of coins and paid the two quarters once again. She was focused on the moment but I could see something during my brief glimpses at her. She was having a blast and her childlike smile told me that this was her first time playing something like this. But…

“Lightbulb…” She was the first to speak, her smile quickly disappeared. “I know you don’t know me enough but I need to talk about something... If you want to.”

“It’s about Flash Sentry, right?” I said while focusing on my game. “Nitpick told me a little about that.”

“I’m sure he did…” She made a brief pause. “What… did he tell you?”

“You want to reject Flash without hurting him. Is that true?” I’m fifty-seven thousand points to surpass my score.

“Yes.” She said a little underwhelmed.

“Why don’t you start from the beginning? Or tell me what you want me to know. I’ll hear you and try to help as best as I can.”

“Thanks, you are too kind.” She said tenderly.

Kind? Me? Crap, must concentrate on the game.

“To be honest… It’s so silly. I mean, he likes me and I don’t like him the way he does. If that makes any sense to you.”

“It makes sense. You simply don't want a romantic relationship with him, right?”

”Not only him… I don’t think I’m ready for something like that.”

“And why don’t you tell him that? Sentry is not a bad guy and he’ll understand the way you feel.”

“Because I don’t think I can give him a proper rejection!”

“Why?”

“I don’t want to tell him something bad and ending with him being angry at me.”

“You are overthinking things. Sentry can be many things but he isn’t a rude guy. He is actually nice if you talk to him normally. A little reckless from time to time… and very protective of his hair.”

Really, that guy loves his hair way too much.

The ball from Twilight’s machine fell again to its demise and she paid again.

“To be honest…” I continued. “I’m surprised that you don’t like him as a possible candidate for a boyfriend. Half of the girl population at school would love to be in your shoes.”

“That’s what everyone tells me.” Twilight said while pressing the button and starting her third game. “But this is different! I simple don’t like him like that so I must… ‘sigh’ What if he ends up being disappointed in the way I approach someone and everyone starts to talk at my back again?”

“Hey, nobody backstabbed you during the gossip incident from the last time. Everyone was, uh, talking about Nitpick in reality!”

Especially how he was a rude and a pain the ass with Pinkie. Not entirely his fault but most of it was true.

“I don’t mean CHS but Crystal Prep. I always was…”

She stayed quiet for a moment, doubting if she wanted to share her past history with me or not.

“Anyway…” She chose to don’t tell me. “I don’t want CHS to think I am rude.”

“But that’s pretty selfish of you if you ask me.”

And she stopped playing, making her lose again.

“Am I being selfish?” She asked surprised and frightened.

“Yes. Badly, I might add!”

“Why? Tell me! I need to know!”

I was about to break my record. But this is too important to ignore. What to choose? What to prioritize? In the end…

“Because you are prolonging Flash’s rejection and that’s unfair for him.” I told her face to face, my machine marking that I lost. “You are unconsciously trying to preserve your image of a nice girl so nobody hates you in school and you are keeping Flash at bay so you can preserve the status quo. I was told you wanted to make friends… Is that true?”

“Yes! That’s why I try to be kind with everyone so nobody judges me in the bad way!”

“Trying to be kind like that is the same as being foolish. You can’t please everyone all the time, Twilight!”

“Of course I can!” She suddenly gained courage. “Fluttershy taught me that there is always a way to be kind and compassionate with the feelings of everyone! There is always a way to understand everyone and help them out! That’s why I don’t want to hurt Flash or reject him in a bad way! I want him to know that I don’t want anything with him and still being friends in the future!”

I’m starting to see the problem here.

“Question. What’s the best description of being kind, Twilight? Use only one word!”

“Only one word…? Let’s see…”

She thought extensively in the answer. She was resting her arm with the other while slowly rubbing her chin. Her face reflected that she was looking for the answer in her mind relentlessly. After snapping her fingers and giving a small smirk, she told her conclusion.

“Considerate! The best word to describe kindness is being considerate!”

And she was right. That’s the right answer.

“I’m impressed, Twilight. Fluttershy has taught you well.”

“Thanks, she is a good friend and a great teacher!”

“Indeed she is. Kind, selfless and always trying her best to support her friends, she is the perfect embodiment of the word… unlike you!”

Shocked. That was the only thing written in her face.

“W-what are you trying to say?”

“Let me explain to you why what are you doing is wrong, okay?” I sternly said and she nodded weakly. “Let me tell you a little story that happened long ago. At the start of the second grade of middle school, to be exact. There was one, foolish guy infatuated with a beautiful and athletic girl who also happened to be really smart. She was popular, social and above all… she was so kind."

"And what happened?"

“This boy I just mentioned hopelessly fell for her and the girl eventually noticed that. What happened next? I’ll tell you what happened! A series of painfully to watch events took place. The guy was trying his best to impress her with subtle acts of genuine gentleness and interest for her. He improved his scores, his diet, his everything and in the end, everything was for nothing. Why do you think that happened, Twilight?”

She was looking at the floor. “I don’t know…” And that was the only thing she said.

“Well, he confessed and got rejected. As I mentioned before, not only she already knew that he was love struck for her, but she already had a boyfriend all that time she was being nice to him. You want to know why? Because he was her friend and didn’t want to lose him, so she didn’t do anything instead. Can you imagine the frustration and how bad it must have felt that the one you wanted the most, the one you had complete faith with, tells you that kind of answer after so long?”

“No...No, I can’t.”

“And you are making the same mistake! By being ‘nice’ in the way you are approaching, you are making Flash Sentry pass a time of roses and scorns by him trying to be with you! How many girls he could have met and talk instead of wasting his time on you? Or writing a song instead of trying to make dialogue with you on phone or many other instances!”

Twilight raised her chin and her face was a mixture of various emotions. She was calm, reasoning every word and paying me full attention. At the same, however, such terror and pale pupils were silently watching me.

“The more you prolong his dreams, the greater will be the fall." I continued. "The more you try to avoid the subject, the more all will end up in you actually making everything worse around you. ‘If she knew that he loved her that much, why she didn’t tell him anything?’ or ‘Why did she allowed to pass time and play with his feelings’ and many, many more questions people will ask to themselves while talking about you.”

"And what's wrong with my way of doing things?" She asked honestly.

“For you to say to me that you want to please everyone because you are trying to be kind, it actually shows me that you are shallow and inconsiderate of the people around you. You may try to be kind and trying your best moment while dealing with people, but in the end, you are being cruel.”

“Why I am cruel? I try my best to be nice with them!”

“Because you are actually lying, Twilight! You don’t have the courage to confront people for the greater good of the relationship. For instance, hypothetically speaking let’s say you bake me a fruit cake, but you don’t know that I don’t like fruit cake, I hate it, but trying to not hurt your feelings, I say that I like it! I’m being kind. You talk with someone who knows me the best much later and he ends up telling you that I hate that kind of cake. What would you feel about it?”

“I would feel bad.”

“Why?”

“Because you lied to me!”

“Now imagine instead of fruit cake, it’s about something more serious. Let’s say that a friend in common has a terminal sickness. You don’t know that, but the doctors and I do. I tell you that he will be saved to make you feel better. I fill you with hope that he is going to be alright, and he is going to be fine, good, okay and then he dies horribly. And you get the news that he was dying by sickness all this time and I just was hiding you the truth. How would you feel about me?”

“That you were being horrible!”

“Even if I was just protecting you from the horrible truth?”

“Yes… you should have trusted me more in that situation.”

“But why? I was being kind! By not telling you the harsh truth, I made you cling to a zone of comfort and hope where you couldn’t get hurt! I was considering your feelings so you would be safe!”

“Even so… that would be cruel! Because you hid from me about something important and decided to lie to me instead of telling me what was really happening! Just like…” She slowly widened her eyes and a flash of sparks was shining in them. Like a rainbow in a night of light. “Just like I am being with Flash…”

“Twilight… sometimes we try to avoid saying cruel things to the strangers and especially to the ones we love, thinking that it’s best to let things come and go. That’s not bad in certain circumstances but there are times when you must take the tide straight ahead and do something about it. There is cruelty in kindness when you try to be too considerate, but you must transform it the other way around! Be considerate but not naive, Twilight! Because there is kindness in cruelty! Tell him the truth so he can finally move on, just like you!”

“But I’m still scared. What would happen if I face the truth and I ended up choosing the wrong course of action?” She said with such…

I see what worries you about her, Nitpick.

“Don’t be scared! You can never know for certain what will happen in the future. The only thing we can do is become stronger with the lessons that our mistakes offer to us. You may know about Fluttershy’s incident with my friend, right? Be like her! Kind, strong and able to face life as it comes! Even if she is shy most of the times, she slapped him for something that she believed in, something that in a way, she is right about. You know why? Because she ended up teaching Nitpick a small lesson about life and forgive him, even if he is a pain in the ass.”

“You truly are friends, aren’t you? Must you use that kind of language?”

“Yes, and don’t even think to try and correct me. Only my girlfriend can do that because I choose to allow it!”

“…sorry.”

“Don’t be when you don’t do something wrong, Twilight! Also, never let someone make you feel less and never accept bullshit from anyone, especially your friends. You understand what I try to say?”

“I believe I do!” She said after a brief pause.

“Good. Now… what are you gonna do?”

“I will speak with Flash in person during school, tomorrow!”

“Excellent! Tell him from the bottom of your heart what you think of him and all will end up okay for you. Be subtle, kind but be cruel, not a monster, if it’s necessary. I know that you will do the right thing unlike Bookfull Sporty when she rejected Nit-wuuup“

I nearly made the mistake of my life. But I managed to avoid a bomb.

“Nitpick was the guy in the tale?!” She asked in awe.

Oh fucking great!

“You aren’t supposed to know that! Why did I let that slip?”

“I won’t tell anyone! Pinkie Promise!”

“You don’t have to make the promise, Twilight! I will tell him myself!”

“Why? He will be angry at you!”

“Because he is my friend.”

We stood there for a moment without saying anything. Suddenly, a pair of arms embraced me. It was Choco and behind her, the voices of the others were heard. We decided it was time to go home and everyone took their transports. I left my girl in her house and after a few minutes of walking, I arrived home and played a little while.

Next day in the morning, Choco and I arrived earlier than usual. We stumbled with Nitpick and started to talk about the Pureness System of Demon’s Dogma, which I didn’t understand, it was too modified unlike the previous system. My girl got bored and she went straight to school. I used this chance to talk about my session with Twilight and I got a positive comment.

“You told her about Sporty? WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU, DUMBASS?”

“I’m sorry, really! It slipped away from my tongue! I was just talking with Twilight and I felt really relaxed and suddenly I was telling her stuff!”

“Seriously! Then that’s the reason why she called me last night and asked me if I had traumatic experiences before! Pffff! That girl is so straightforward!”

“You are really worried about her.”

“Why lie? Yes, I’m worried. I had to play a while longer to calm down and finally sleep a little.”

“I believe she’ll do fine. She is a good hearted girl… naive, but good. Speaking of the Winged Demon that Sugarcoat mentioned, there she comes!”

Twilight was getting down from an expensive looking taxi and she hasted her steps towards us.

“Good morning, guys!” She said in an educated manner.

“Sup, Twilight!” I replied.

“Hey, Twilight… are you ready?”

“Yes. I asked the girls about the perfect place where nobody can find us while I talk with Flash, and well… it’s in your spot, Nitpick!”

“You can use it. I’ll eat with Lightbulb and the others in the cafeteria for today.”

“Thanks... To both of you!”

My Bro got closer to her and he rested his hands in her shoulders. I could see a little bright in her eyes when he did that.

“I have complete faith that you will emerge victorious, Twilight! I have no doubts that you’ll do a good job. You can do it!”

“…I can do it…I will do it!” Twilight said with complete optimism.

“Also remember…” I spoke with seriousness. “When you want to reject someone and really want to be considerate of his feelings, try to be on the shoes of the other person! Imagine the words that he would want to hear. Visualize the face that you want to see! That’s the key, Twilight!”

“Not only that! Remember that being unsure in what you say makes you lose confidence for you and the other person, so be completely secure when talking to him and let go. Also… be more than a kind girl, be empathetic! Empathy is the answer for this particular problem in life! I know it's scary, specially for you since this is your first time doing a thing like this, but be strong. And if he acts like an asshole, then you are in all your right to send him to hell!”

“Language!” She said while frowning.

Oh shit, you ruined a good speech again.

“Good! Now go! I’ll see you in the classroom in a moment!”

She nodded and went straight inside the school. When I see her like that, the less I'm inclined to believe she transformed into a night demon or something. It's unlikely that someone with a fatal flaw in personality could do that, or betray her school willingly. After a little reflection, I gave my piece of mind to my friend about the main subject.

“You will hide behind the farthest bushes of your spot, right!”

“Don’t buy me lunch today.”

Author's Note:

After finally releasing from my system that super crappy story of Captain Friendship, I could finally write this chapter with a clear mind. Sorry for the wait and next chapter will be the rejection of Flash Sentry. Whether it's a funny or heart-warming rejection will depend on my mood. If you have any suggestions, as always, feel free to write them.

Comments

[Ryusun]

6930638

I'll answer your questions with the best of my capabilities (sorry if it's too long):

1) The schedule is based more in Mexico's Dgeti system, each CBTis school in all the states of the republic had their own distribution of subjects depending on the technical career you chose. In my case, third semester was the shortest in number of subjects with only seven, while fourth and five semesters I had 8 subjects, not counting social services in the community or school during evenings. And since the story is based in the second year or third semester, that's why the day is short.

2) Ethics in my country (again, depending on which school you are) are taught on any educational level once. Taking again the example of high school, there was one subject which was called in rought translation 'Science, technology, society and values'... practically ethics with a focus on computational skills to develop basic application to promote human values. In college, it was called Professional Ethics, but that was more focused on the laboral field. So for the sake of simplicity, I just named ethics.

3) Informatics... well this one was a huge language barrier and a confusion from my part. A subject called 'Proyects and administration for Informatic systems' exist here and I just shortened for simplicty. But when I wanted to perfect my english and decided to take advanced courses, the american english teacher told me that it's not called like that for them but 'System Programming' or other many names that I need to memorize. That information was corrected to me forty-two chapters later, which is far too late to correct at this point, or so I believe.

Forgive me if I made you lose your time like that.

I hope it explains all and once again, sorry for the long explanation.